A Not-So-Simple Recovery

[Jabonicus]

The multi-colored Togrutan walked around the ship, her bare feet stepping over sharp metal fragments, stepping only where she was safe. Frowning, she realized that, besides the engine, she didn't really know. She knew two things, that it would leave radioactive decay for a noticeable while, and that the engine had a ridged, elongated design. "Well... Look for the engine." She responded, as she pulled back a panel that was loosely hanging over something. Near the back, where the engine should be was...

Nothing. A large, elongated opening, with absolutely nothing but cut wires and charred metal. Frowning, she pulled off the device she was given. It could detect radiation, or... At least where there was more than usual. She pushed the button on it, doing as she was instructed, walking a bit off from the vehicle before nearing the compartment that she found bare. The needle jumped up, the noise of the geiger counter raising to a constant, high pitch.

"...It was here. Emphasis on was." Her accented voice spoke up. Turning off the machine, she sighed. "It seems you were right. Someone nearby took it. Which isn't good." She picked a small ball from a clip on her belt, one of two she was given for the mission. She pushed a small button on it, tossing it down. It silently gave pulses of blue light in the dark cave. It was a supposed to show the collection crew where to come.

"Well, we need to get moving." She spoke, moving towards her blue hued Varactyl at a hurried pace. "That engine is a hazard, especially if it's taken apart." She added in a worried tone. Hopping on her Varactyl, she would wait for Tristyn, answering any questions or replying to any statements before taking off back towards the entrance.

@Tristyn

 

[Tristyn]

"So maybe it's just a bunch of scavengers trying to make a living off expensive Republic technology...nothing more to it is there? I would really hope not. My family has bad experiences with scavengers", she got up onto her varactyl and prepared to follow Vera again. Before she would follow, she thought for a bit,"You said the engine radioactive....and it was definitely heavy....so those people had to drag it quite far away. By now they should already be sick so they won't be hard to handle"

"Are you gonna use your scanner to follow the radiation trail or should I try and meditate on it?",the cave was certainly quite and darker enough to concentrate in, but then again it may take time, which they didn't really have. However, using the scanner means we have to wherever the engine was dragged, and if the scavengers got lost then so would they.

 

[Jabonicus]

Vera shook her head before they took off. "It's best to just try and head towards nearby towns. I could pick up what was there in the cave because it was in there for a while." She replied. "There wouldn't be much to go on if they took it down a path." She admitted. An idea popped into her mind, and she motioned for the Padawan to go first. "Head towards a nearby town, I'll follow, I need to get some information." She justified.

After the Padawan would go, she would follow lagging a bit behind as she brought out her holocommunicator. She spoke with someone for a brief period, asking for blueprints for the engine, seeing what the individual parts were. If it truly was taken apart and scavenged, then if they could find bits and pieces of it, they could figure out where the rest of it was.

To the right of the cave was the outskirts of a town, it would no doubt be a good place to start. But farther down, to the left, was a much larger town. Both of which had consented to searches relating to the engine. It was up to Tamara to decide which one to go to first.

@Tristyn

 

[Tristyn]

Tamara nodded and directed her varactyl to the larger town where she would look and ask around about the engine, even she couldn't remember what it was supposed to look like. She wasn't a very 'techy' kind of person and would zone out or get confused quickly when people started to talk about this kind of stuff. So as soon as someone started to blabber on about a potential lead she would immediately call Vera and let her know about it.

And that was what she did. The Pau'ans were absolutely clueless about this too, but the smaller Utai seemed to be more insightful, and with the help of a protocol droid, Tamara was able to learn something about their missing engine unit. She called out to her master, wherever she was,"Master! I think I found something......I don't know if it's what we are looking for or just a load of nonsense"

Chances are it was nonsense, but what was I too about it? I'm trying to be helpful. As long as I'm trying, right?

 

[Jabonicus]

By the time Tamara had called out to Vera, she had her holocommunicator displaying various engine parts on a loop. Walking towards Tamara as she was called, Vera handed it to her with a grin. "These are engine parts that could be taken from the entire engine. Could you ask them if you recognize any of them?" She requested.

Her varactyl waited behind her, idly giving an echoing hoot. Vera herself had ground quite fond of the creature, and no doubt would request if she could somehow purchase it once the mission was over. Even if she had to keep it in someone elses hands on the planet, or keep it there until she could get an appropriate ride back to where she lived.

 

[Tristyn]

"Sure", Tamara said, taking the device from Vera. She slowly walked over to the vender/engineer again while looking at the parts being displayed by the projector. She showed the parts to the Utai,"Excuse...do you recognise any of these parts?" The vender stared blankly at her. Tamara looked back at him curiously, then an annoyed looked appeared on her face all of a sudden as she bumped the protocol droid hard on the stomach, it jumped to life again,"Oh my apologies miss...."

The droid began to speak in a foreign language and soon the Utai also jumped back into reality, talking back to the droid,"It appears that the engineer saw these parts not too long ago. A scavenger came by asking if he wanted to buy them, but the price was too high. He refused. The scavenger went in that direction he says" Tamara turned her head around and smiled at Vera and got back onto her varactyl.

 

[Jabonicus]

Vera returned the grin, getting on her own Varactyl as they took off once more, in the direction that Tamara had spoken. As they sped forward through the street of the town, Vera noticed something peculiar, and called out towards the Padawan. "Hey! Hold on one second!" Slowing to a stop, she hopped off, jogging over to a home just off the main road.

In front was a a coral where an obviously sick Varactyl lay. It's normally bright orange scales dull and sickly. Frowning, Vera hopped the fence without a word, pulling out the detector she was given. Flicking it on, it sprung up with a reading, showing an abnormally amount of radiation poisoning on the creature. "...Tamara? This poor creature was near the engine for an... Oddly long time."

 

[Tristyn]

Tamara was rather worriedly less interested in the creature, and instead she clapped her hands together and took out her lightsaber, looking a bit too excited for comfort,"Alright! So looks like this jerk is inside! Let's cut a hole through the door and arrest him! Just like one of those Holonet movies!" It was true. She did often watch movies about Jedi, even if they were sadly inaccurate.

 

[Jabonicus]

At first, Vera simply stared at Tamara in confusion, before a look of disappointed shock went over her face. "Tamara!" She exclaimed, crossing her arms at the Padawan. She took a deep breath, as she pointed at Tamara's lightsaber. "Please, put that away, we will not be needing it." She said, sighing. "Tamara, why would you think we need to bust down his door?" She questioned.

Whether Tamara replied or not, Vera walked over to the corral where the sick Varactyl lay. Rubbing her forehead, She pointed to it slowly. "Padawan, this creature is sick. It is poisoned because of that engine." She said with worry. "This creature did little more than carry the thing. Now, the man inside, he's been with that engine for hours, maybe days. He's not only going to be sick, Tamara. He's going to need medical care more advanced than the town can provide."

"And that's not all. What if he lives with a family? Maybe he brought dangerous pieces out to town to try and sell." She explained. "He's not the issue here. He's trying to make money so he can survive. It's what we all do. Because of something he didn't know nor understand, he and others are sick, and possibly dying." She said with a worried sigh. "We are Jedi, Tamara. We don't kick down peoples doors, we don't beat people up just because they broke some rule. We help people. Criminal or not."

@Tristyn

 

[Tristyn]

Tamara lifted her shoulders and arms,"Oh I'm sorry....I just thought they were criminals or something. Sorry, master, the missions I've been aren't haven't been at all that interesting. I was just hoping I'd get to swing my lightsaber" She put her lightsaber away and walked around the house to look into the windows, however they were all closed and she couldn't see in. She returned back to Vera.

"So...should we just ring the bell?

 

[Jabonicus]

She nodded silently, biting her lip in response. A want for excitement is one thing, but a lightsaber wasn't a toy. Using it for destruction wasn't something one should hope to do, and especially with such vigor. It worried Vera, and she would have to make a note of it to the Padawan's official master. "Don't let your emotions control your actions." Vera warned after a minute, ignoring the question as she walked towards the door. "Anticipation should not be the cause of such an incident. When we are out here, we represent the Jedi, whether we want to or not. To kick down the door of a man, criminal or not? Tamara, we have not given him a chance. We don't know his reasons, we don't know what he does. In a situation like this, we must strive to understand."

Standing in front of the door, she put her red and blue knuckles against the door in rapid succession. Knock knock knock. She waited for a response, until over fifteen seconds had passed. Glancing over her shoulder at Tamara, she called out into the dark, closed off interior of the house. "Hello? Is anyone home?" Pushing her ear against the door, she could hear small movements, but she couldn't tell exactly what was happening. "Sir, or Madame, we're going to come in." She warned with a calm voice, her hand grasping the door handle.

Turning to Tamara, she took a deep breath. "Someone is inside. Be on your guard, but do not resort to violence unless absolutely necessary." She instructed, before she pushed open the door. The house itself was dark and quiet. They entered the main room, which was full of various pieces of scrapped tech, and other such gadgets. It was obviously the home of a scavenger, but whoever Vera had heard was nowhere to be seen.

@Tristyn

 

[Tristyn]

Tamara sighed, crossed her arms and waited for Vera to go in, but only after a quick lecture. She's right. Feth that was dumb of me. Vera looked back and forth to her before she opened the door and Tamara followed her in. The knight didn't seem very sure when she went in, and this worried the padawan a great deal. She slowly and quietly shut the door the door behind her, forgetting that it might be dark for Vera.

The hanging metal gears, deconstructed droids and various other objects that littered the room were quite spooky at most. She put one hand on her lightsaber and slowly walked around the house. She could only sense the other Jedi, or perhaps her fear might be clouding her vision. She didn't know.

She did her best to be as quiet as possible when she called out,"M-master....do you see anything?"

 

[Jabonicus]

Vera had no trouble finding her way through the darkness. The only real issue she had navigating about was bits and pieces of sharp metal lining the floor. Scrap that would pose no threat to someone wearing shoes, but then again, Vera didn't exactly wear shoes. She had to take careful, slow and light steps deeper into the home, her eyes going around her as she scanned the building for life or any signs of inhabitants.

"We won't see anything with our eyes, Tamara." She replied with caution. "Relax, send your mind out, and search for something alive." She added. "Start by closing your eyes, finding me in your mind, and move on from there." She instructed. She did the same, closing her eyes, relaxing, and letting her mind wander the house.

It didn't take her long to find someone, deeper into the house, laying still in a small room, but she decided to allow Tamara to discover this.

 

[Tristyn]

"Relax, send your mind out, and search for something alive." Vera said. "Start by closing your eyes, finding me in your mind, and move on from there."

Tamara could already sense the knight, but what she sensed was very distorted. She felt rather cowardly being so scared in the dark, but ultimately decided to listen and use the Force to find their missing culprit. Only because she didn't want to look afraid. But wait why should I care? She probably doesn't even care if I'm scared. We both know that. We're Jedi. After a couple of seconds she closed her glowing purple eyes and tried to calm down and concentrate.

She listened to Vera and focused on her a bit more, to get a clear image of where she was. Once she was sure, she smiled, then moved onto the rooms of the house. Particualy the basement and the attic. What she (thought) she sensed disturbed her a great deal. Or perhaps her fear was starting to return. The figure was deep in the house. In-in a small room? The knight would be able to sense her thoughts as Tamara was holding back on how she felt. He's-he's....um...s-sick....he isn't very well. She was starting to get a mental image of him, and when it became clear she jolted up nearly screamed in terror.

"M-master....I don't wanna go down there"

 

[Jabonicus]

Vera turned sympathetically to the Padawan. "It's alright, we don't have to." She replied. "There's no need to be afraid. We know he's here, and we know the engine is still here. We just need to call in a pickup ship and a medical crew." She added. "He's not a threat, he's a man that needs help." She spoke, taking Tamara's hand, guiding her back outside.

She grabbed her holocommunicator once they were outside again, pushing the button on its side as she began speaking. She requested the pickup crew, as well as a doctor, and a veterinarian, no doubt for the sickly Varactyl that lay outside.

 

[Tristyn]

Tamara smiled at the encouragement Vera was giving her, it really worked because she wasn't to afraid now that the sickly man wasn't declared a threat. She thought he might be insane from being sick. I watch too many zombie movies. Once they were outside again she had to enquire a bit more with the knight,"So...now that the engine has been 'found'...", she gestured with her fingers,"...what will we do now?"

She may have had a brief moment of fear in that dark house, but otherwise she hadn't done much. Learned a few things, for sure, but all she did was ride the varactyl. Ok maybe that was fun.

 

[Jabonicus]

Vera looked around for a moment, thinking. Besides the engine, she didn't have much else she had to do on Utapau. She shrugged, turning to the Padawan. "Well, that's really it." She responded simply. "Not much else to do now." She added. "But hey, you learned a few things didn't you? I'm sure you can take what you learned and apply it to tons of places!" She reassured with a toothy grin.

They would get on their Varactyls, going back to the surface of the planet, until they were picked up by a transport.

 

[Tristyn]

"I guess it will!"

Tamara was glad to consider this mission a success. She had recently been on a series of missions where either her or her master had ended up injured, sometimes badly. And this when went off without a hitch. Though it was kind of simple. She got on her own varactyl and followed Vera back up the cliff wall and back into the waiting transport.

"Master, have you ever had your own padawan before?", she was asking this because of how much it seemed like she deserved one,"You're a great teacher. My master would punish me if my training lessons failed"

 

[Jabonicus]

As they boarded the transport ship, she sat down, looking over at Tamara as she quickly brushed sand and dirt from her bare feet. She thought for a moment of the question, and the statement that the Padawan had made. "No, I've never had a Padawan." She remarked. She frowned at the statement of her being punished. "Well, I don't really believe that punishment is a proper response to failure. Certainly not in something like being a Jedi."

 

[Tristyn]

"Every master has their teaching methods I suppose...I mean I have learned from my mistakes just because of how badly I was punished"

Tamara took a seat across from her and made herself comfortable,"But like I said....you should have a padawan. They would really like you"